Why do people leave bequests? For love or self-interest? Evidence from a new international survey of bequest plans
This paper discusses three alternative assumptions concerning household preferences (altruism, self-interest, and a desire for dynasty building) and shows that these assumptions have very different implications for bequest motives and bequest division.
Investing in an uncertain and slower world
There is a small group of wealthy Filipinos who are in search of investment opportunities. They might find an economy that is expanding, albeit at a slower rate, a stock market that’s less vibrant than before, and a real estate market that’s losing steam. In brief, potential investors may have to be more cautious, selective,...
Why Asian firms hold cash
[with Akiko Terada-Hagiwara]. Existing literature concludes cash remains ‘king’ and that debt capacity does not provide the same degree of downside protection. We consider why firms hold cash, and what determines how much cash firms hold, with particular attention to Asian firms.
Why hasn’t Japan’s massive government debt wreaked havoc (yet)?
[with Takaaki Nomoto and Akiko Terada-Hagiwara] The potential sovereign debt crisis in Japan looks even grimmer than those in the Eurozone economies if one looks only at the gross general government debt-to-GDP ratio. Japan’s gross general government debt-to-GDP ratio is more than twice the OECD-wide average (109 percent) and by far the highest in the...
The Great Deodorizer
The Aquino administration is using the sad plight of the people of Bohol and Cebu as a way of deodorizing the much-criticized and legally flawed Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). What remains of the P7.5-billion Calamity Fund and the P3.7-billion Quick Response Funds embedded in the budgets of seven agencies? There is no need to augment...
